A Republican leader denied a double standard in pushing Senator Larry Craig to resign after a sex sting guilty plea, while remaining silent over Senator David Vitter's involvement with an escort service.
A senior Democrat said a double standard by Republican leaders is exactly what occurred.
Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a men's restroom and announced on Saturday he will leave the Senate at the end of the month. He was caught in an undercover police vice operation at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport in June and, despite his guilty plea, now insists he did nothing wrong.
Senator John Ensign, the Senate Republican campaign chairman, said Craig "admitted guilt. That is a big difference between being accused of something and actually admitting guilt."
"David Vitter never did that. Larry Craig did," continued Ensign on ABC television's This Week program.
Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed a contrary view on Fox News Sunday.
"One, I say there's a double standard," said Leahy, a Democrat. "Secondly, I don't think they'll ask him [Vitter] to resign because, of course, he'd be replaced by a Democrat. It's easier to ask Larry Craig to resign because he'd be replaced by a Republican."
Idaho has a Republican governor who will appoint a successor to Craig. Louisiana's governor is a Democrat.
Vitter of Louisiana has not been charged with a crime, although he acknowledged his Washington telephone number was among those called several years ago by an escort service.
Prosecutors say the escort service was a prostitution ring and have accused the woman who headed it of racketeering.
Craig's conduct was "embarrassing not only to himself and his family but to the United States Senate," Ensign said. Before Craig's announcement, Ensign had strongly suggested that he resign.
Another Republican, Senator Arlen Specter, said on Fox News Sunday that Craig should seek to vindicate himself.
"I'd like to see Larry Craig seek to withdraw the guilty plea, and fight the case," said Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I'd like to see him fight the case because I think he could be vindicated."
Regardless of any legal developments in Craig's case, Republicans clearly would frown on Craig changing his mind about quitting the Senate on Sept. 30 -- and leaving the party with a festering corruption issue.
Ed Gillespie, US President George W. Bush's counselor and a former chairman of the Republican Party, acknowledged that ethical scandals have hurt the party.
He predicted that by next year, the party "will not have candidates who have any kind of ethical considerations that will be a concern to the voters."
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